SOCRATES

On this day - one!!! that is on the 19th February 1954, the Brazilian footballing legend, doctor and dictatorship-resistor, Sócrates was born and named Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira. Playing for Corinthians, an historically working class team, Sócrates co-founded the Corinthians Democracy movement opposing the brutal US-backed dictatorship. In 1982 they won the state championship with "Democracia" emblazoned on their shirts.

Sócrates was the first born child of Raimundo and Guiomar Vieira, born in Belém, Pará, and was relocated with his family to Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, in January 1960, after his father Raimundo earned an important position as revenue supervisor. This job earned Sócrates' father the status of a small-town hero in Igarapé-Açu, where the family lived at the time. His father's new salary allowed Sócrates to attend the best school in Ribeirão Preto, Colégio Marista. 

In a biography written by the journalist Tom Cardoso, it is revealed that the small library Sócrates' father had built in his home, containing philosophy books and other works, came under threat as of the 1964 Brazilian Coup d'Etat. Sócrates watched his father rid himself of books that he so loved. He recalled: "In 1964, I saw my father tear many books, because of the coup d'état. I thought that was absurd, because the library was the thing he liked best. That was when I felt that something was not right. But I only understood much later, in college." At age 10, Sócrates was exposed to the repercussions of the military dictatorship's censorship. His childhood was marked by this event which he came to comprehend as an adult later in life.

Sócrates married four times, divorced three times, and died in his fourth marriage. He had six children. He was a columnist for a number of newspapers and magazines, writing not only about sports, but also politics and economics. He frequently appeared on Brazilian TV programmes as a football pundit. At the time of his death, Sócrates was writing a fictional book about the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Sócrates was a physician, a rare achievement for a professional footballer (he held a bachelor's degree in medicine from  the medical school of the Univ of Sao Paulo). Even rarer is the fact that he earned the degree while concurrently playing professional football. After retiring as a player, he practised medicine in Ribeirao Preto. He was also noted for being an intellectual, a heavy drinker and a smoker... for youngsters out "there", this is not to be recommended.

When Socrates moved to Italy, he was asked which Italian he respected the most, Mazzola or Rivera (football players of Inter and AC Milan, respectively), he responded?? "I don't know them" he replied. "I'm here to read Gramsci in original language and to study the history of the workers' movement" (referring to Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci)!!!!

Learn more about the radical history of football here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/sports

and on this day (20th February) in 1982, Corinthians, led by Sócrates, won the Paulista State Championship while promoting democratic reform. 

IRELAND JOINS INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL

On February 18th 1882, Ireland became the fourth country to join the growing international scene, when they played their first international match against England at The Knock Ground, Bloomfield, Belfast. The occasion was spoilt by this being the country's heaviest defeat, in front of 2,500 spectators. The well established England team gave the "new boys" a 13-0 lesson in their international debut, including 5 goals by Howard Vaughton, still a record for England internationals individual scoring record. Arthur Brown scored 4 and it was 4-0 at half time. The well established English team gave the "new boys" a 13-0 thrashing (England's greatest total) which included a 5 goals haul by Oliver Howard Vaughton (below), which remains an English individual scoring record and Arthur Brown scored 4. It was 5-0 at half time. 

Other England results in this season: v Ireland 18 Feb 1882 13-0 friendly!! v Scotland 1-5 11th Mar 1882 (Fr): v Wales 3-5 13th March 1882

 

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QUAKES AND SHAKES EVEN IN PORT TALBOT!!

 

On 17/2/2018 in South Wales, there was a 4.4 magnitude earthquake, recorded at places between Liverpool and Devon, which caused the abandonment of the Welsh League fixture after 41 minutes between Port Talbot and Taff Wells, in South Wales. 

The epicentre was near Cwmllynfell, the biggest (earthquake NOT name) since a 5.2 mag. in 1906. Yellow circles = events from 1350-1969:  Red since 1970.

The game carried on shortly afterwards with the home team winning 2-1.

Taff's Well is a hot thermal spring village, with water at 21.6 deg C, a nice tourist attraction and Wales' only natural thermal spa amongst the Carboniferous Limestone* of South Wales. It is the base for the film "The Englishman who went up the Hill etc" and the local Arthur's shop is the basis for David Jason's "Open all Hours".

Note NICE slide show.....

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/920343/uk-earthquake-today-wales-port-talbot-football-swansea-england-quake

In the centre of England at Leicester City's King Power Stadium, the crowd stood up to celebrate their last minute winner by Ulloa, against Norwich City on February 27th 2016. A university student in his laboratory 0.3 miles away, with a seismograph (that's a thing that measures quakes!!), noted an energy release.

AND of course there is the "San Jose Earthquakes" founded in the US Major Soccer league 1994 as the

San Jose Clash. The city is ON the San Andreas Fault, which you will have heard of I'm sure. The club plays at the Earthquake Stadium!

* maybe look this up, you will be shaken by the information.

ASHINGTON AFC

16th February 1929

Mention Ashington to any football follower and the chances are they will have heard of the birthplace of 1966 World Cup winning brothers, Bobby and Jackie Charlton YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT.......... and Jackie Milburn, a legend at Newcastle United, also played for the town’s team, known unsurprisingly as the Colliers. I hope these names are familiar with you!

Ashington AFC was formed in 1883, making it one of the oldest Clubs in Northumberland. Despite its minor status it entered the FA Cup as early as 1887. After joining the Northern Alliance in 1892, the club soon switched to the East Northumberland League where it remained until 1902 when it returned to the Northern Alliance. The Colliers played in this league until 1914, winning the League Title in 1913/14, as well as the Northumberland Challenge Bowl in 1913. They switched to the North Eastern League in 1914/15, finishing the season in ninth place. The outbreak of World War One brought an end to the League.

Ashington spent 8 seasons in the Football League in the 1920s, their last season being 1928/29. They finished bottom of the Third Division (North) that season conceding 115 goals with their worst defeat being 8-2 at home to eventual champions Bradford City. 

On this day in 1929 Ashington suffered another major defeat at their Portland Park ground that season, 4-7 against Doncaster Rovers with Tom Keetley scoring 6 of the Doncaster goals. That was – and still is – the record goals scored by a Doncaster player in a League match while the 180 League goals he scored in his Doncaster career also remains a Rovers record. 

Amazingly Tom was one of six Keetley brothers who played in the Football League including four – Tom plus Harry, Joe and Frank – who turned out for Doncaster Rovers.

Ashington failed to gain re-election at the end of the 1928/29 season, their place being taken by York City of the Midland League.

Unfortunately, a difficult few seasons followed both on and off the pitch. A few close scrapes with relegation saw the club frequently changing managers and with increasing uncertainty surrounding the clubs Portland Park ground, Ashington FC made the worst start to a season in the club’s history in 2007/8 which saw only one point gained from the first ten matches. In came manager Andy Gowens, a former Ashington player, who worked wonders in keeping the Colliers in the Northern League First Division. On Friday 15th February 2008 Ashington played their final game at Portland Park against Seaham Red Star. A bumper crowd of 1,954 – the biggest attendance at a Northern League game in over 25 years – saw Seaham spoil the party with a 3-2 win.

FIRST TEAM | LAST MATCH

Sat 14/2/2026 0 - 2 North Ferriby vs Ashington

FIRST TEAM | NEXT MATCH

Tue 17/2/2026 7:45 pm Blyth Town V Ashington

THAT HISTORIC GOAL!

15th February.....Ian Porterfield was born on this day in 1946 in Dunfermline and was scorer of arguably the single most important goal in Sunderland's history. He is probably best remembered as the scorer of the only goal in the 1973 FA Cup Final when Sunderland beat Leeds United 1-0. I remember seeing it ! Less well known perhaps, is the record he set as a manager !!  He was the first Premier League Manager to be sacked! 

Porterfield managed Chelsea in 1992/93, the first season of the Premier League, and on December 5th 1992 Chelsea beat Spurs 2-1 at White Hart Lane to occupy fourth place in the table. They were looking like surprise title contenders – but then things changed! 

They didn’t manage a win in their next 11 League outings, dropping to mid-table and on Monday 15th February – two days after Aston Villa had beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in their 29th League outing of the season, Ian Porterfield received his marching orders and was replaced by a former Stamford Bridge favourite, David Webb. But he had set that record that will be his for ever – the first Premier League manager to be sacked!

Actually, christened John – presumably changing to Ian as it scanned better in songs!! – he grew up in Lochgelly, and played junior football for Cowdenbeath Royals, Mary Colliery Juveniles, Lochgelly Albert, and Lochore Welfare, having trials with Rangers and Hearts.

He joined Leeds as an apprentice but got homesick and played a game while on trial at Cowdenbeath before he signed for Raith Rovers in 1964. Three years, 115 games, and 17 goals later, Raith received their highest transfer fee when we paid them £38,000 plus another £5,000 after twenty appearances. His first season on Wearside, 1967-68, brought only nine further appearances after his December debut at home to the mags that we drew 3-3, only a couple of days after he arrived.

1968-’69 saw another 31 goals, as the club began to see what a "magic wand" he had for a left foot. Over the following three seasons, he established himself in the side and was an ever-present in the club's famous FA Cup run, managing a total of 50 games in all competitions. He was having his best scoring season for the club with six strikes. Of course, the last of those came just after half past three on May 5th, when he volleyed home with his “wrong” foot, to send Wearside into paroxysms of delight and Leeds up the Wembley steps for their runner-up medals.

There were obvious calls for a Scotland call-up, but that never happened, probably because the club was a second division outfit and there were a lot of top-class Scottish midfielders at that time.

In December 1974, Ian was instrumental in the club's 4-1 win over Portsmouth, as it chased promotion but the next day he was involved in a car crash and suffered serious head injuries. The club's form suffered without him, and despite his return to training much earlier than expected, we finished fourth – and there were no play-offs.

He was back with 24 games the following campaign, helping his club to the top spot and promotion, but it’s fair to say he was never quite the same player as before the accident and he hadn’t featured in the top flight before a loan spell at Reading in November 1976, and left the club in the summer of 1977 without having played another game.

His Sunderland record of 254 games, bringing 17 goals, will always be remembered for the 1973 Cup win, and he went on to play over a hundred times for Sheffield Wednesday under Jack Charlton, taking on some coaching duties towards the end of his stay, before becoming manager at Rotherham in 1979. Following the club becoming Division Three champions in 1981, Ian took over at Sheffield Utd, taking them out of Division Four at the first attempt, and later out of the Third. Next he had a spell at Reading and followed Alex Ferguson into the hot seat at Aberdeen before being in charge at Chelsea when we knocked them out of the FA Cup in ’92.

Porterfield was sacked in 1993, making him the first Premier League manager to get the boot, and that was his last manager’s job in British football, He moved into international management, firstly with Zambia in the wake of an air crash that had taken the lives of several of their top players, and got them to second place in the African Cup of Nations.

After that came Zimbabwe, before a brief return to the UK to assist his old mate Colin Todd at Bolton. Back abroad only a few months later, he managed Oman, and Trinidad and Tobago, whom he took to Caribbean Cup triumph in 2001, before a spell out of the game.

In 2003 he returned to club management at Kasame Atante Kotoko in Ghana, for a short while, then with Busan I’Park in South Korea for three years, where he won their FA Cup.

After his return to the international scene with Armenia in 2006, he was diagnosed with colon cancer and sadly passed away on September 11th 2007.

We don’t suppose there’s another player in Sunderland’s history who is remembered for one particular goal, and quite rightly so, as Ian played a massive part in making the Club's most famous day as memorable as it is.

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DUNCAN EDWARDS-A TRULY GREAT PLAYER

12th February 1955 Duncan Edwards of Manchester United and England was regarded as the superstar of his generation – but forget the wealth of the modern star player. After playing in a local derby against Manchester City at Old Trafford on 12th February 1955 (which City won 5-0) he was later caught by the police riding home on his bike without lights. He was fined five bob (25p) by the courts and two weeks wages by Manchester United for bringing the club's name into disrepute! Tragically he was killed at the dreadful Munich Air Disaster, described below:

Returning home with Manchester United from Belgrade following a European Cup match on 6 February 1958, the aeroplane carrying Edwards and his teammates crashed on takeoff after a refuelling stop in Munich Germany. Seven players and 14 other passengers died at the scene, and Edwards was taken to the Rechts der Isar Hospital suffering from many serious injuries including multiple leg fractures, fractured ribs and severely damaged kidneys. The doctors treating him were confident that he could recover, but were doubtful that he would ever be able to play football again. Edwards regained consciousness soon after reaching the hospital. Over the next two weeks, his condition fluctuated. Doctors had an artificial kidney rushed to the hospital for him, but the artificial organ reduced his blood's ability to clot and he began to bleed internally. Despite this, the day after the crash he asked assistant manager, Jimmy Murphy, "What time is the kick off against Wolves, Jimmy? I mustn't miss that match." 

By 14 February, his condition was reported to have "dramatically improved". By 19 February, his condition had deteriorated again, and it was reported that he was "sinking rapidly", with use of the artificial kidney machine developing into a "vicious circle, gradually sapping his strength".

Doctors had said several days earlier that they were "amazed" at his fight for life, and the next day a "very slight improvement" in his condition was reported. Nurses noticed that his circulation was failing, and injections briefly improved this, but his strength ebbed away and medical staff were unable to save him. He died at 2:15 a.m. on 21 February 1958. Hours before his death, by coincidence, a new issue of Charles Buchan's Football Monthly was published in the United Kingdom, with a photograph of a smiling Edwards on the cover.

Edwards was buried at Dudley Cemetery five days later, alongside his sister, Carol Anne. More than 5,000 people lined the streets of Dudley for his funeral. His tombstone reads: "A day of memory, Sad to recall, Without farewell, He left us all" and his grave is still regularly visited by fans.

Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1953–1958	Manchester United	151	(20)
International career
1949–1952	England Schoolboys	9	(0)
1954–1957	England U23	6	(5)
1953–1954	England B	4	(0)
1955–1957	England	18	(5)

Edwards has been commemorated in a number of ways in his home town of Dudley. A stained-glass window depicting Edwards, designed by Francis Skeat and paid for with donations from Football League clubs Brentford and Crystal Palace was unveiled in St Francis's Church, the parish church for the Priory Estate, by Matt Busby in 1961, and a statue of Edwards unveiled in the centre of the town in October 1999 by his mother and his former team-mate Bobby Charlton.

In 1993, a cul-de-sac of housing association homes near to the cemetery in which he is buried was named "Duncan Edwards Close". The Wren's Nest pub on the Priory Estate, near where he grew up, was renamed "The Duncan Edwards" in honour of him in 2001, but it closed within five years and was subsequently destroyed by arsonists before being demolished. In 2006, a £100,000 games facility was opened in Priory Park, where Edwards often played as a boy, in his memory. It was unveiled by Sir Bobby Charlton. In 2008, Dudley's southern bypass was renamed 'Duncan Edwards Way' in his memory—this road had coincidentally opened to traffic nearly a decade earlier on the same day that his statue was unveiled.

A housing complex called Duncan Edwards Court exists in Manchester among a network of streets named after his fellow Munich victims, including Eddie Colman, Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor. On 8 July 2011 a Blue Plaque was unveiled by Bobby Charlton at the site of the digs in Stretford where Edwards and other United players lived, and in 2016 local dignitaries in Dudley launched a fundraising drive with the aim of placing a similar plaque in the town. In 2022, a new leisure centre complex opened in Dudley and was named the Duncan Edwards Leisure Centre.

In 1996, Edwards was one of five deceased players chosen to appear on British stamps issued as part of a "Football Legends" set issued to commemorate the UEFA Euro tournament, which England was hosting. He was portrayed by Sam Caflin in the 2011 British TV film "United" centred on the Munich disaster and the success of the team in the two years leading up to it.

In recognition of his talents Edwards was made an inaugural inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002. His memorabilia were exhibited at Dudley Museum prior to its closure, and was subsequently sold to Manchester United with a selection to be loaned back for display at the Dudley Archives.

Terry Venables said that, had he lived, it would have been Edwards, not Bobby Moore, who lifted the World Cup trophy as England captain in 1966. Tommy Docheerty stated that "there is no doubt in my mind that Duncan would have become the greatest player ever. Not just in British football, with United and England, but the best in the world. George Best was some thing special, but in my mind Duncan was much better in terms of all-round ability and skill." 

CONMEBOL, COPA, COLO COLO, CAMPEONAS, CUP

Conmebol's, blue ribbon football club competition, The Copa Liberadores, has been in existence since 1960. It was launched as a response to the formation of the successful European Cup, in existence since 1955. South America can claim the first ever continental champions, thanks to a "one-off" 1948 tournament organised by Chile's Colo Colo.

Having won Chile's 1947 Championship, Colo Colo invited six other teams to compete for the Copa de Campeones in order to find the best club in South America. Colo were joined by the national champions of Uruguay and Argentina; Nacional and River Plate, the Peruvian runners-up Municipal and from countries with no national champions, Litoral of Bolivia, Emelec of Ecuador and Vasco da Gama. The tournament was a round robin league opened with a 2-2 draw between Colo Colo and Emelec.  It was decided when Vasco da Gama held River Plate in the last round of matches, to secure the title from the Argentinian side by one point. 

The victorious Vasco line up included Albino Friaca, who would go on to score Brazil's goal in their 2-1 defeat to Uruguay in the final match of the 1950 World Cup along with Barbosa, Brazil's goalkeeper and "scapegoat" for that infamous game. Whether having been crowned the World's first ever continental  made up in later years for the pain in their defeat in the "Fateful Final" is unknown, but highly unlikely.

While a success on the pitch, the Copa de Campeonas was a financial disaster and the idea was canned until UEFA proved such a tournament was workable. In 1960 Conmebol tried again when Penarol of Uruguay won the first title with a team built around Alberto Spencer, with 54 goals, which is still the all time leading Copa Liberatores scorer.